Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.Jump to contentThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleThe 40-foot specimen, comprising 168 individual bones, required five days for its installation (PA)A 119-year-old whale skeleton has returned to the Hull Maritime Museum ahead of its reopening to the public following a six-year, £20 million refurbishment. The 40-foot specimen, comprising 168 bones, took five days to install in the museum's newly revamped Age of Sail gallery after extensive cleaning and conservation. The whale was caught off New York in 1907 and belongs to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale species, with fewer than 400 remaining globally. When the museum reopens to the public in August, visitors will be able to crawl inside the whale's rib cage through a tunnel. The skeleton has a complex history, having been transferred from the University Museum of Zoology in Cambridge in 1935, which had acquired it from the American Museum of Natural History in 1908. In full119-year-old whale skeleton returns to museum after ‘significant’ conservationThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in